BEAUTY Cosmetics Fragrance

The Psychology of Fragrance

Written by emilyc

Dr. Joachim Mensing knows a thing or two about perfume – he’s a fragrance psychologist so he def knows his Chloés from his Diors and his Britney Spears Fantasy from his Britney Spears Curious. A lot goes into how and why we choose the perfumes that we do. We’ll let him do the talking…

chloe perfume

Why do we want to use perfume?

“Fragrance and perfumes are offers for personal transformation, indented to bring us from our ACTUAL SELF – how we feel, closer to our IDEAL SELF – how we would like to feel. Behind them is the secret wish to transform our selves unconsciously to give us for example, a more feminine, more sensual, more dynamic or self-confident appearance than what we really feel. They also create a certain atmosphere and emotional setting.”

How do we select our fragrances?

“To choose a perfume is a very complex situation that we can only explain to a certain degree. The reason is that we smell with our emotional centre in the brain and have associations with our long-term memory. I encounter this phenomenon everyday myself. The decision seems to be somehow irrational and is taken spontaneously and connected with the remembrances and feelings that we had and would like to re-experience again. They seem to appear out of the blue. The fascination for a certain fragrance is hidden in our subconscious and linked with desires and moods that are difficult to articulate.”

What are the differences between a spring and a winter fragrance?

“A typical spring fragrance smells mostly of fresh notes that belong to the type Citrus Green…The citrus green fragrances reach out to a more extrovert personality who wants to feel more dynamic and energetic…On the contrary, a typical autumn/winter-fragrance shows the longing for romantic sensuality. It is the wish for more emotion, tenderness and comfort.”

Interview via BeautyPress.com

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About the author

emilyc

Emily is a New Yorker trapped in a Floridian's body and loves every minute of her big city life. With a major in international business and years of being surrounded by ill-fitting suits and all the wrong shoes, she learned that the importance of fashion needs to be communicated to the world. To her, fashion is on the same level as charity work and feeding hungry children. Emily can be found frolicking the streets of her gayborhood enjoying the off-color humor of the gays.

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